1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to floor care, and more specifically, to a floor care appliance having a power management system for limiting the total current the load devices of the appliance can consume.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
Floor care appliances are well known in the art. Typical floor care appliances include upright vacuum cleaners, canister vacuum cleaners, hard floor cleaners, and extractors. It is known to provide floor care appliances with power management systems for managing the current providing to various load devices such as the motor-fan assembly and/or an agitator drive motor.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,973 issued to Robitaille et al. there is provided a regulating switch circuit for conditioning operation of a first load upon operation of a second load wherein the first load and the second load consume electrical energy from a power source. The circuit includes a detecting means for detecting the operation of the second load and a sensing means for sensing an amount a parameter of the electrical energy supplied to at least one of the first and second loads exceeds a predetermined level. A load control device couples at least one of the first and second loads to the power source wherein the load control device has a control terminal. A control circuit is coupled to the control terminal of the load control device and is responsive to the sensing means and the detecting means to variably adjust the electrical energy supplied by the power source to at least one of the first and second loads to limit the parameter of the electrical energy to the predetermined level.
However, this circuit adjusts the current provided to the first and second loads according to a pre-determined level for that particular first and second load. It does not adjust the current provided to the first and second loads according to a pre-determined level that is a total of the current provided to both of the first and second loads. In addition due to the circuit being designed with analog devices, there is little versatility in configuring the circuit according to different parameters. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a power management system that can control the total current provided to at least a first and a second load utilizing microprocessor technology that is more flexible in configuring the circuit according to different parameters.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved power management system for limiting the total current provided to at least a first and a second load devices of an appliance.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved power management system utilizing microprocessor technology that can be programmed to control the total amount of current provided to at least a first and a second load device of an appliance.
It is yet further an object of this invention to provide an improved floor care appliance capable of being connected to a network.
It is yet still a further object of this invention to provide an improved floor care appliance having a programmable microprocessor for receiving and storing operational data.